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Port Arthur
Port Arthur is only about 30min from Eagle Hawk Neck but with the weather souring it took much longer. I’m not sure if it was because we were heading closer to Storm Bay but I wouldn’t discard the notion as part of the reason things went from bad to full blown craptastic.

We’re not afraid of a bit of rain, even less of a bother when we were prepared for the worse with plenty of wet weather gear and even a sealed cover for my camera but as we pulled into the Port Arthur Reserve our hopes started to diminish greatly as the heavens opened and it really started to come down. Rivers of ankle deep run off flowed through the carpark and visibility had dwindled down to under 10m.

Inside the visitor center it was a madhouse of drenched tour groups or those about to be, clambering for the overpriced disposable garbage bag ponchos. For half an hour we watched the tours bravely yet futilely go out into the white out, waiting for the rain to pass but to no avail. So we decided to do a quick drive around the surrounds, stumbling around a little “beach” area before heading into Hobart.

The approximately 90min drive took hours with the abysmal weather and only started to let up as we got closer to the city.

After checking into the cool little Alabama Hotel we took a short drive around town and to Rosebay Esplanade for some photos of the harbour and a distant Mt Wellington. Thankfully by then the rain had stopped so we can actually show you a couple photos!

Travel tip: the Alabama doesn’t have any off street parking but there a plenty of overnight parking garage options nearby. You can also park on the street out front, just remember to check the post times.

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Salamanca markets
Next morning we got up early to pop into the Salamanca markets before hitting the road. It was a rather easy choice since very little else was open on the long weekend.

Getting there – The market is located pretty much on the water at Sullivan’s cove and is short walk from the town center. We recommend heading straight towards the water then following it south to take in the scenic bay views.

The market is of a decent size and is filled with all the markety things you’d expect, though the items tend to lean towards a more up market feel with jewellery, carvings, paintings and framed landscape photos. There are also a few clothing stalls but again with a more “grown up” feel. Of course, what would a market be without food and fresh produce? Plenty of fruit and veg in a separate pavilion and the food trucks scattered through out the venue make breakfast and brunch blend together and lunch unnecessary.

A few things usually dictate when and where we travel – time of year, events and price of flights. Cheap flights pretty much always take a precedent but we prefer travelling in between seasons to avoid crowds and public/school holidays where possible. This time however was pretty much the opposite of that. We were locked into a small window due to work commitments so basically it was the Easter weekend or nothing till the end of the year and who wants to wait THAT long amiright?? With only 5 days at our disposal we had to keep it reasonably accessible with minimal expenditure. We’ve heard rave reviews from our landscape photographer buddies championed by Mel Sinclair who mentioned (and was smart enough to go the following week!) that around this time of year the Fagas trees start changing colour (they even have a festival dedicated to it) so we thought, why the heck not.

Well the first problem was going when we had to not when we wanted to so we were actually about a week early for the colour changing, no problem, just need to look for places in cold areas where winter is coming early. Second problem, travelling during a batch of public holidays, surely not everything will be closed right? Sadly we were wrong on both accounts, throw in constant wet weather ranging from heavy drizzle to outright monsoonal downpours and a feeble rental car with no will to live and that was just the beginning of our Tasmanian adventure! It was trying to say the least but we’ll try to keep the whinging to a minimum and stick to the facts 😉

The biggest Keyzer Soze moment of making people believe the devil didn’t exist was arriving at the airport to clear skies. The drive out to Eaglehawk Neck was reasonably uneventful, apart from a bit of afternoon/pre long weekend traffic it took a bit over 2 hours from the airport including the low speed limits, endless road works and unpaved roads with trucks and 4wds gunning it with no consideration of on coming traffic.

We chose the Best Western Lufra Apartments because they are pretty much directly above the tessellated pavements. The hotel was a little dated but that sort of thing never really bothers us, we go on holidays to do things other than look at the wallpaper! Meals were a little higher priced but when it’s the only option in the surrounding area the choice is pretty easy if you don’t want to go hungry. The staff however were friendly and helpful.

The next morning we got up for sunrise, a little icy but nothing too unmanageable. The sunrise itself was rather uneventful – enough for a couple nice photos at the tessellated pavement, nature working its magic on carving out a rather intricate grid in the rock, but it did hold high hopes of a beautiful day of sightseeing. Back to the hotel the dining room’s expansive windows displayed a spectacular view and the buffet brekky with most of the basics covered wasn’t too bad either. Being a long weekend we were expecting a bigger crowd but it was rather tame, probably was a different story for the proceeding days though.

Conveniently, the Pirate’s Bay area is also very close where you can take in the blowhole, Tasman Arch, Fossil rock look out and Devil’s Kitchen all with in the space of an hour or so if you stick to the main lookouts and 86 the scenic walks. The weathering and layering of the rock formations at the Tasman Arch was tragically poetic to see nature creating and at the same time destroying history of the landmark. Like most natural landmarks there is no open and close times so getting an early start, beating the crowds and getting these sites out of the way is definitely the way to go to maximise your day.

Travel tip: about 2km from Eaglehawk Neck on the way to the blowhole there is a small town nicknamed “Doo Town”, which lovingly coming about because… well they added “Doo” to everything. Its pretty much a “blink and you’ll miss it” blimp on the map but cute and quaint enough to stop for a quick selfie while trying not to snicker at “doo doo” jokes.

With the weather still clear and our sense of adventure high we headed further south to Port Arthur to take in the convict town and its historic buildings…

Fresh from a stint in Europe and Los Angeles Evol Walks are back stateside with a bunch of local shows and we snapped them for The Music Magazine’s (Brisbane) – “In Focus” feature (formerly The Guide cover) this week.

Wow its been a crazy few weeks! We’ve been working on a few different things which we can’t wait to take the covers off, but in the meantime, the Brisbane edition of The Music magazine and casually cracked the big century! They kept it to a rather quiet celebration with just a couple newspaper friends and immediate pamphlet family members only 😉 For their special edition, we snap songstresses Avaberee who grace the “In Focus” feature section (formerly The Guide cover) followed up by Selahphonic for the current issue.

Mofo is Dead, not sure who Mofo is but he’s like Zed, thankfully his absence has no effect on the band from rocking, the lads are in for our The Music Magazine’s (Brisbane) – “In Focus” feature shoot this week (formerly The Guide cover).

Those with a key eye or weekly itch for local Brisbane music news may have noticed a severe lack of an edition last week. While The Music website is going great guns, the weekly summary printed edition is getting a reworking, from now on they will be going to a fortnightly mag – so our The Guide cover shoots will feature accordingly. On the plus side this leads to a bumper issue each fortnight of more of what you love and a new format is also in the works (: